Fairfield businessman Gary Carter says he has been taken off the ballot for the primary election for House District 116. He announced his intent to run in December and filed his petition last month. He says he had enough petition signatures and fulfilled the law's requirements when filing, but a House Republican Attorney filed suit against him on name and date issues. A hearing officer ruled in Carter's favor that he should be on the ballot, but the State Board of Elections met last week and decided his name should be removed. Carter will challenge the decision by filing an appeal in Sangamon County Circuit Court to have his name on the ballot. The Fairfield Community High School Board of Education met last week. Members approved new flooring for the study hall at a cost of $13,358 from K&M, and they approved Prairie Farms for dairy services for the upcoming year. Following executive session, the board approved rehiring Bob Wells as Assistant Principal with a four percent pay raise, and it hired Anthony Like as a full-time custodian. The Wayne City School Board met last week. Administration has asked the board to put a two-hour time limit on baseball and softball games, based on a recent Jefferson County limit of one hour and 45 minutes. Some umpires have reportedly said they will not come to Wayne County games without a limit, and administration says there are too few umpires as is. In other action, the board voted to employ Jenna Talbert as a temporary math interventionist, Teresa Cameron as elementary teacher, Jessica Clark as paraprofessional, and Misty Boyd as long-term art substitute. Steven Ellis resigned as assistant basketball coach, and the board also hired several people for athletic positions. Zane Kelly - Volunteer Fishing Coach, Hunter Clark - HS Girls Head Basketball Coach, Canyon Clark - HS Girls Assistant Basketball Coach, Jake Talbert - HS Boys Head Basketball Coach, Steven Ellis - JH Track Coach, Jarrett Lewis - HS Boys Volunteer Basketball Coach, Misty Thomason - JH Assistant Track Coach, Payton Sowa - JH 5th/6th/JV Boys Basketball Coach, Jenna Talbert - HS Girls Varsity Basketball Coach, Lucy Smith - JH Girls Assistant Basketball Coach, Nyle Musgrave - JH Boys Varsity Basketball Coach, Connie McNeil - HS Co-Cheerleading Coach, Kelsey Gregory - HS Co-Cheerleading Coach, Lamar Choate - JH Volleyball Coach, Matt Griswold - JH Assistant Volleyball Coach, Harry Sanders - HS Softball Coach, and Ashley White - JH Cheerleading Coach. Fairfield Memorial Hospital is partnering with Carmi Christmas Elves to ring the Kicks 4 Kids Shoe Program to Wayne and Edwards counties. Shoe Sensation will bring a mobile shoe store to Fairfield on April 29th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on the 30th from 7:30 to 3. It will be set up in the FMH Educational Annex Building, and five percent of each shoe purchase will go back to Kicks for Kids. 10 percent of sales will go to the Wayne and Edwards Kicks 4 Kids shoe program; money raised will be used to buy shoes to benefit underprivileged children in the counties. According to the CDC over the weekend, 6,386 people in Wayne County were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or 39.4 percent of its population, including 48.6 percent of people over 18 and 68.9 percent of people over 65. 46.1 percent of fully vaccinated people had been boosted. 40.3 percent of Edwards County residents were fully vaccinated, including 50.1 percent of those over 18 and 75.9 percent of those over 65. 46.3 percent of vaccinated people had been boosted. River stages as of early this morning: the Little Wabash east of Fairfield stands at 14.61 feet, below the 17 ft. flood stage. Meanwhile, the Skillet Fork at Wayne City has a reading of 8.29 feet (flood stage is 15 ft.). The Little Wabash below Clay City is at 7.80 feet (flood stage is 18 ft.). Bonpas Creek at Browns reads 5.84 feet, and the Little Wabash at Main Street in Carmi reads 11.98 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel sits at 11.25 feet. Today's crude oil price is $95.00, down $1.75 from Friday. The June crude oil price is $97.47, down $5.57 from Friday morning. "Morning Coffee" will feature Mark Turner and Chris Conard. "Morning Coffee" is between 8-9 a.m. on 104.9 weekdays. To listen to a podcast of Morning Coffee and Community Connection, click on "About Us" on the top right of wfiwradio.com. Then, from the dropdown, make your choice of program.